The IT Nerd

The TELUS Friendly Future Foundation’s Together for Tomorrow Gala raised a record-breaking $3M on June 18, creating new opportunities for underserved youth across Canada through post-secondary bursaries and community programs designed to help them thrive. More than 800 guests gathered for an evening of entertainment and impact, highlighted by an exclusive headline performance by four-time Grammy award winner Lionel Richie. The event was held at the iconic TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning in Toronto and also welcomed TELUS Student Bursary recipients and grant beneficiaries as honoured guests.

Presented by TELUS, the gala brought together hundreds of leaders from Canada’s business, philanthropic, technology, and arts communities. The evening’s generous support will fund the TELUS Student Bursary program and TELUS Community Board Grants, supporting thousands of young Canadians through bursaries, mentorship opportunities and community-based programs that help remove barriers to education, employment and well-being. 

The evening builds on the recent announcement of TELUS President and Chief Executive Officer Darren Entwistle and Fiona Entwistle’s landmark $1 million personal donation to the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation. This transformative gift officially launched the Entwistle Technology Bursary, designed to open doors for youth in financial need pursuing post-secondary education in science, math, and technology who are committed to making a positive difference in their communities. The generous donation has inspired further community support, as evidenced by the exceptional fundraising results from last Thursday’s gala.

Building on the success of the first two galas, this year’s third annual event brings the three-year total to over $8.1M. This achievement reinforces the Foundation’s position as Canada’s preeminent corporate foundation dedicated to youth empowerment. Since inception, the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation and TELUS Community Boards across Canada have provided $140 million to support youth. In 2025 alone, the Foundation exceeded $10 million in awarded TELUS Student Bursaries and Community Board grants. 

Since 2000, TELUS and its team members have contributed more than $1.85 billion in cash, in-kind contributions, time and programs and volunteered 2.5 million days to support communities around the world.

The Foundation extends sincere gratitude to presenting sponsor TELUS, and all donors, sponsors and partners who made this remarkable event possible, including:

• Luminary Sponsor: Darren & Fiona Entwistle
• Trailblazer Sponsor: RBC Capital Markets
• Innovator Sponsors: AECON, Asurion, Amazon, BGIS, CIBC, Garofalo Family Foundation, Google Cloud, Ledcor, National Bank, Samsung, The&Partnership, TD Securities, WestJet
• Activation sponsors: AFL, Amdocs, BMO Capital Markets 

Every young person deserves the chance to reach their full potential. To support the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation’s mission of helping underserved youth across Canada access education, opportunity and brighter futures, visit friendlyfuture.com/donate. For organizations, foundations, and philanthropists interested in creating lasting impact through named bursary opportunities or strategic partnerships, please contact Louise Malhotra at lmalhotra@friendlyfuture.com.

The complete TELUS Optik TV suite is now available in Ontario, offering customers the ultimate entertainment experience with flexible TV plans that give customers access to over 450 sports and live TV channels, plus streaming services. With Optik TV, customers can select the streaming and channels they actually want – including services like Netflix, Disney+, Crave, Prime Video and Apple TV – refresh their lineup every 30 days, and save money doing it. TELUS Optik TV customers also gain access to exclusive bundling options to enhance their connected experience at home and on-the-go, including TELUS Mobility, SmartHome Security and SmartEnergy.

To qualify for Optik TV, customers must have TELUS PureFibre Internet. Experience the leading internet technology for speed and reliability — TELUS PureFibre delivers a 100% fibre-optic, direct-to-home connection. With PureFibre, households gain the seamless streaming and on-demand experience Optik TV provides, with faster Internet speeds that don’t lag or stall when multiple devices are connected. Beyond Optik TV, PureFibre Internet unlocks the future potential for connected homes and enables immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality to reach their full potential.

Conditions and exclusions apply. For more information, please visit telus.com/optik. 

TELUS announces that President and CEO Darren Entwistle has been named a 2026 inductee into the BC Innovators Hall of Fame, an honour recognizing visionary leaders whose contributions have helped shape and strengthen British Columbia’s innovation and technology ecosystem. The recognition celebrates Darren’s transformative leadership and longstanding commitment to innovation, connectivity and economic growth in British Columbia and across Canada.

Over the past 26 years and under Darren’s leadership, TELUS has transformed from a regional telecommunications provider into a world-leading technology company with global operations spanning digital connectivity, healthcare, agriculture, customer experience, security and artificial intelligence capabilities. Throughout this transformation, TELUS has maintained a deep commitment to British Columbia through significant commercial and social investments, and the company recently announced plans to invest $15 billion in the province through 2030 to enhance connectivity, support Canadian AI leadership and drive economic growth.  

Key milestones realized in British Columbia under Darren’s leadership include:

• Since 2000, TELUS has invested $70 billion in British Columbia and $294 billion across Canada to enhance and expand TELUS’ world-leading broadband networks, driving connectivity, innovation, sustainability and economic growth across Canada. Today, TELUS’ 5G network reaches more than 90 per cent of Canadians and its PureFibre network connects 3.7 million homes and businesses
• As part of TELUS’ copper retirement program resulting from its pervasive fibre build (and associated commitment to net-zero carbon footprint), TELUS has undertaken “urban mining”, reclaiming more than 4,600 tonnes of copper and enabling a reduction of 9,300 tonnes of GHG emissions — equivalent to removing nearly 2,000 cars from the road for one year.
• Through the TELUS Living initiative, TELUS is helping address housing availability and affordability by redeveloping central office buildings (that have become redundant owing to TELUS’ fibre build) into purpose-built residential rental developments.
• TELUS is developing one of the world’s leading and most sustainable AI infrastructure ecosystems through three advanced facilities in British Columbia, including an AI data centre in Kamloops and two planned facilities in Vancouver.
• Over the past 26 years, TELUS has built a $1 billion TELUS Ventures portfolio, supporting innovative entrepreneurs and small businesses across the province.
• Since 2000, TELUS and its team members have gifted more than $1.8 billion globally to innovative social programs, inclusive of helping communities all across British Columbia.
• Through TELUS’ unique social products of Internet for Good, Mobility for Good and Tech for Good, complemented by TELUS Wise, TELUS has helped bridge digital divides for more than 204,000 people across British Columbia while keeping them safe online.
• Since 2018, TELUS Health for Good has supported more than 145,000 patient visits for underserved British Columbians through 17 tech-enabled mobile clinics founded by TELUS.
• TELUS has invested more than $12.6 million in local storytelling and emerging creators in British Columbia through STORYHIVE and TELUS originals.
• The TELUS Friendly Future Foundation launched the TELUS Student Bursary in 2023. This program has already supported 300 student bursaries in British Columbia that will help realize future innovators in the province.

Established by BC Tech in 2023, the BC Innovators Hall of Fame celebrates leaders whose vision, leadership and innovation have made a lasting impact on British Columbia’s economy and technology sector. Inductees are recognized for advancing innovation, fostering economic growth and helping position B.C. as a globally competitive innovation hub. 

Here’s some photos from yesterday’s volunteer event in London, where TELUS team members and community volunteers came together to create a friendlier future for 500 youth across London by packing 300 Kits for Kids, backpacks filled with essential school supplies and assembling 200 Kindnessgrams, sweet treats with handwritten notes of hope, as part of the 21st annual TELUS Days of Giving. 

Kits for Kids

For many families, rising costs are putting essential school supplies out of reach. Through TELUS’ Kits for Kids program, backpacks filled with school essentials including notebooks, pencils, pens, colouring supplies and loose-leaf paper are distributed to students facing financial barriers. To date, TELUS has distributed more than 250,000 Kits for Kids across Canada, including 10,000 this year alone.

Kindnessgrams

Sometimes, a simple gesture is all it takes to remind someone they aren’t alone. Each Kindnessgram package pairs a bag of sweet treats with a handwritten note of inspiration, designed to let our community’s most vulnerable youth know that their neighbors are rooting for their success. These small tokens serve as a powerful reminder that they are seen, supported, and valued.

Camp Mail

Attendees created camp mail kits to ensure youth who are attending camp are not left out while other campers are receiving camp mail from home. These kits include fun activities and hand written youth friendly jokes. 

The items from the London event will support five local charity partners: Big Brothers Big Sisters of London and Area, London Food Bank, London and Middlesex Community Housing, YMCA of Southwestern Ontario and Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU). Together, these organizations provide critical support to vulnerable families, children and youth across London through social housing, food insecurity, health and fitness programming, camps, child care, specialized newcomer services, mental health and career support programs.

TELUS Rewards is setting a new standard for customer loyalty with major new enhancements that give Canadians more benefits, more savings, and more everyday value. Starting today, every TELUS Rewards member gains access to an expanded suite of health, travel, entertainment and lifestyle perks worth more than $400 in annual value — simply for being a TELUS customer. This commitment to member value has earned TELUS Rewards global recognition, with three first-place honours at the 

2026 Loyalty360 Awards, including the 360-Degree Brand Award. The expanded lineup of exclusive benefits now available to all members include:

• New TELUS Perks: Complimentary access to a virtual counselling session through TELUS Health MyCare (valued at up to $120), plus a complimentary veterinary consultation through TELUS Health MyPet (a $40 annual value) — making it easier for members to access trusted support and care for themselves and their pets.
• New Partner Perks: Everyday savings through new partnerships with Skip and Turo. Perks include a complimentary one-year Skip+ membership, unlocking $0 delivery fees on eligible orders, member-exclusive offers, and hundreds in potential annual savings from Canada’s homegrown delivery network. And hit the road this summer with a one-time $50 Turo car rental credit.

TELUS Rewards is Canada’s award-winning loyalty program, featuring a tiered experience that rewards customers for their loyalty. As members progress through Purple, Gold, Platinum and Diamond tiers, they unlock increasingly exclusive perks, enhanced benefits and greater everyday value. Customers who sign up for TELUS Rewards with one eligible TELUS service join the Purple tier and gain access to a growing collection of benefits, savings and experiences from day one. Members can unlock Gold, Platinum and Diamond tiers by adding additional qualifying TELUS services, including Mobility, Internet, Optik TV and SmartHome Security.

For more information about TELUS Rewards, visit https://www.telus.com/my-rewards.

TELUS is investing more than $66 billion over the next five years to expand and enhance its network infrastructure and operations across Canada. As the country seeks to attract more investment to stimulate growth, TELUS’ commitment to Canada’s future will help fuel homegrown innovation and support the prosperity of urban and rural communities. This investment builds on an impressive track record, with TELUS investing billions in technology and operations to boost productivity and support a robust national economy.

Now through 2030 in Canada, TELUS is:

Advancing Canada’s Tech & AI Sovereignty

• Expanding on their $2-billion investment to bring the speed and connectivity of TELUS PureFibre to regions of Ontario and Quebec that haven’t seen the benefit and scale of this investment to-date, stimulating job growth, accelerating innovation and enhancing productivity
• Building more than 160 new cell towers in partnership with Terrion and deploying targeted enhancements to their 5G and LTE services at more than 1,000 existing sites nationwide this year – significantly increasing wireless coverage and capacity to meet the evolving needs of their customers and communities, now and into the future
• Strengthening Canada’s AI infrastructure to meet surging demand for advanced compute power through the TELUS Sovereign AI Factory – officially ranked as the fastest and most powerful supercomputer in Canada by TOP500. Their Rimouski, Quebec facility sold out following its September 2025 launch and we are now expanding their compute inventory to meet continued demand. 
• Delivering one of the world’s most powerful and sustainable AI infrastructure clusters with three world-class facilities in British Columbia, selected by the Government of Canada as the first project to advance under the federal Enabling Large-Scale Sovereign AI Data Centres initiative. Their AI factory in Kamloops, British Columbia, will come online later this year and we will develop two new Vancouver facilities to empower Canadian businesses, researchers, public sector and Indigenous organizations with access to cutting-edge Canadian-controlled compute – ensuring every piece of data, computation, and breakthrough remains within Canadian borders. 
• TELUS Digital is advancing Canada’s sovereign AI capabilities through Fuel iX, a platform enabling Canadian companies to deploy secure, domestically controlled AI assistants. Building on industry-leading safety practices, Fuel iX Fortify addresses Canada’s stringent AI security and safety requirements through automated purple teaming and rigorous testing protocols, helping organizations confidently integrate AI while maintaining control over their data and systems
• Deepening their commitment to rural and Indigenous connectivity by investing more than $3.3 million to expand broadband and wireless networks to more than 12,000 households through 2026

Pioneering Environmental Sustainability & Purpose-Built Housing

• Advancing their journey to net-zero as part of their world-leading copper retirement program, we continue to support the circular economy by reclaiming and repurposing legacy copper networks, helping meet Canada’s need for this important resource. To date, we have mined more than 4,600 tonnes of copper from their network and enabled a reduction of 9,300 tonnes of GHG emissions – equal to removing nearly 2,000 cars from roads for a year
• Strengthening Canada’s food sovereignty and global leadership in sustainable production through TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods. By expanding their Decisive Farming agronomy services in underserved rural areas and supporting Canada’s cattle producers, we’re helping farmers produce more with less. These efforts ensure a safe, affordable and efficient food supply for Canadians while delivering a critical reduction of up to 500,000 tonnes in GHG emissions by 2030
• Addressing the increasing demand for housing availability and attainability by redeveloping their central office buildings into purpose-built residential rental developments under the TELUS Living initiative 

Fostering Healthy, Connected Communities

• Further bridging digital and health divides through TELUS Internet, Mobility, Tech and Health for Good, and continuing to empower Canadians to stay safe online through TELUS Wise. Since inception, these initiatives have enhanced access to connectivity and healthcare for over 1.6 million people across Canada, while helping them remain safe in their digital world
• Helping remove barriers for youth and empowering them to reach their full potential. Since 2005, the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation and their 21 TELUS Community Boards have directed over $150 million in grants to more than 11,500 health and education-focused charitable initiatives that support youth and 2,000 TELUS Student Bursaries for post-secondary students facing financial barriers
• Helping organizations create healthier, more productive workforces through TELUS Health’s global leadership in healthcare access and technology innovations, supporting more than 170 million lives around the world, in collaboration with both Canadian and global-leading organizations
• Strengthening community connections through authentic storytelling and contributing to a more inclusive creative ecosystem across Canada by investing over $40 million to amplify locally reflective stories and support creators and filmmakers across Canada through grants, production funding, training, mentorship and distribution across national platforms through TELUS’ three content funding programs: TELUS STORYHIVE, TELUS originals and maCommunauté
• Fostering community connection through strategic partnerships with leading sports organizations including Hockey Canada, Canada Soccer, CF Montréal, CFL and the Canadian Premier League

Additionally since 2000, TELUS, their team members and retirees have provided $1.85 billion in cash, in-kind contributions, time and programs, including 2.5 million days of volunteerism to communities in Canada and around the world.  

These investments are consistent with TELUS’ capital expenditure guidance for 2026 as disclosed in the company’s fourth quarter 2025 results and 2026 targets news release dated February 12, 2026 and in the company’s first quarter 2026 results news release dated May 8, 2026.

TELUS also embraces tax morality as a means of further investing in communities. Since 2000, and as of the end of 2025, TELUS has paid approximately $65 billion in total tax and spectrum remittances to federal, provincial and municipal governments across Canada, consisting of corporate income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, employer portion of payroll taxes, various regulatory fees and spectrum remittances, including more than $2.6 billion in taxes in 2025 alone. These funds support public works projects, education, healthcare, cultural pursuits and other initiatives that improve the social and economic well-being of communities.

Indigenous AI tech startup wâsikan kisewâtisiwin (wuh-see-gah-n key-su-wat-su-win) and TELUS have entered a partnership where TELUS becomes the startup’s first beta tester. The AI technology is designed to help improve education about Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Under the agreement, wâsikan kisewâtisiwin’s AI is hosted on and powered by the TELUS Sovereign AI Factory, which i Canada’s first fully sovereign facility.

The AI provides authenticated, Indigenous-informed guidance and education to users writing about and researching Indigenous Peoples in Canada. The benefits are mutual: more than 300 TELUS testers are participating in the formal pilot with access to the wâsikan kisewâtisiwin AI model within Fuel iX™, TELUS’ enterprise-grade generative AI platform. The feedback from TELUS is actively helping train and refine the technology while improving accuracy and usability for future users. In addition to the formal pilot, thousands of other TELUS team members have access to the tool.

The TELUS Sovereign AI Factory, in Rimouski, Quebec, opened in September 2025 and is recognized as Canada’s most powerful supercomputer on the prestigious global TOP500 list. Sovereign-by-Design, the facility powered by over 99% renewable energy, uses natural cooling systems that reduce water consumption by more than 75% compared to conventional data centres, and ensures all AI computing is processed, stored and managed entirely within Canada.

Earlier this week, TELUS announced it will scale its Sovereign AI Factory network across three world-class facilities in British Columbia, delivering one of the world’s most powerful and sustainable AI infrastructure clusters – all built on Canadian soil. The first will open in Kamloops later this year, with the additional two in Vancouver set to open between 2026 and 2028. wâsikan kisewâtisiwin is also being made available through TELUS’ Fuel iX Platform– an innovative, enterprise-grade generative AI platform purpose-built to help organizations develop, manage and monitor Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI solutions securely and at scale.

wâsikan kisewâtisiwin anticipates their AI will be publicly available this fall and is currently accepting applications from organizations interested in investment and beta testing. For more information, please contact: tansi@wasikankisewatisiwin.ca.

Here’s an event recap and photos from this past Saturday’s volunteer event atBabyGoRound in Vancouver, where TELUS team members took part in the 21st annualTELUS Days of Giving.

The initiative brought together volunteers to sort, safety-check and package essential baby gear and clothing for local families. These efforts help ensure parents have access to critical items needed to safely care for their children, while also supporting BabyGoRound’s broader mission to reduce isolation and build community connections for families across the Lower Mainland.

BabyGoRound is a B.C.-based organization dedicated to ensuring every family has what they need to safely and confidently care for their babies. Beyond providing essential gear, the organization fosters connection and community for parents—many of whom are newcomers or experiencing isolation—through workshops and ongoing support programs. Last year alone,BabyGoRound supported more than 2,700 families, impacting nearly 7,400 parents and children across 20 communities from Pemberton to Hope. Following support, 94 per cent of families report a significant reduction in financial stress, while 96 per cent say they feel more connected to their community—highlighting the program’s role in both immediate relief and longer-term wellbeing. The organization works with a network of more than 220 referral agencies, including healthcare providers and social services, to reach families most in need.

TELUS Days of Giving, one of the world’s largest corporate volunteer movements, mobilizes more than 100,000 volunteers across 30+ countries to give back in communities worldwide. Last year, 90,000 volunteers gave back in 34 countries, marking the third consecutive year TELUS team members and retirees contributed 1.5 million volunteer hours globally.

This is really bonkers.

A Globe and Mail (Paywalled) story popped up in my news feed with this:

The voice you hear on the other side of a call-centre interaction might soon sound a little more familiar, thanks to an AI tool that adjusts speech in real time – but not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.

Telus Digital, the wholly owned division of Telus Corp. responsible for customer experience and call centres, has deployed artificial-intelligence technology that alters the accent of customer service agents.

In a post on the company’s website explaining the benefits of speech enhancement, Telus Digital says the technology, provided by a third-party company called Tomato.ai, uses speech-to-speech models to transform live audio.

It works by encoding the speaker’s voice, modifying pronunciation-related features, then decoding the speech back into audio, the company said.

“These models directly modify the acoustic features of speech, preserving the speaker’s voice while improving clarity and reducing accent-related friction,” the company wrote in its post. “This approach allows the solution to address mispronunciations without altering the speaker’s identity or emotional tone.”

Other companies that provide a similar feature say it helps speed up calls and help customers find solutions, while protecting service agents from harassment or discrimination.

Telus Digital provides the call-centre support for the company’s Canadian telecom subscribers, as well as other clients globally.

Where do I begin with this one?

So on one hand, I can see what TELUS is up to here. They know that certain accents from certain ethnic groups rub some people the wrong way. Which in my opinion says more about those people than TELUS or those who are contracted to work for TELUS. So using AI to fix that could be considered a viable path to make customer interactions easier for those people. But here’s the flip side in my opinion. This can easily be perceived as being inherently racist with TELUS being perceived as being the bad guy here as they are covering up the fact that they outsource their customer service. Related to that, a really cynical person could easily say that rather than use AI to do this, TELUS should hire “Canadians” instead. Which opens up a whole can of worms in terms of what defines a “Canadian” because a “Canadian” can have a non

Honestly, TELUS in my opinion created a PR problem that it didn’t need to create. They may want to rethink their life choices as this really doesn’t look good for them. And they need to do something quickly before this blows up more than it already has.

In a seminal boost for Canada’s future innovators, TELUS President and Chief Executive Officer Darren Entwistle and Fiona Entwistle, who was a volunteer director of the TELUS Vancouver Community Board and the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation Board of Directors for a combined 12 years, have announced a landmark $1 million personal donation to the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation that will significantly expand the TELUS Student Bursary program. This transformative gift will officially launch the Entwistle Technology Bursary, designed to open doors for underserved youth pursuing post-secondary education in science, math and technology, and who are committed to making a positive difference in their communities. The new fund aims to level the playing field for young people who are committed to making a real difference in their communities but face financial hurdles impeding the realization of their post-secondary and technical vocation education ambitions.

This seminal gift builds on Darren’s long-standing dedication to supporting underserved citizens, including donating 50 per cent of his salary to support TELUS-designated COVID relief efforts across Canada in 2020. Moreover, this generous donation arrives just as the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation prepares for its annual gala on June 18, inspiring further community support to help Canadian youth reach their full potential. Applications for the 2026/27 academic year have surpassed past years, and the Entwistles’ generosity will enable the Foundation to support even more students starting in Fall 2027. Based on the Foundation’s long-term investment strategy for the gift from the Entwistle Family, it is anticipated that the resulting endowment will provide at least 15 additional bursaries annually (and indefinitely), creating an ongoing legacy of support for the next generation of technology leaders. 

Learn more about the TELUS Student Bursary and how you can also support the next generation of Canadian leaders at friendlyfuture.com/Bursary.